# Strategic Leadership in Asian Markets

**Podcast:** LEITWOLF Podcast - Leadership, Führung & Management
**Published:** 2026-11-15

## Transcript

Certainly, was mich als Person als Mensch war mein Geist, um arbeiten und leben international.
Team spirit, positive thinking, Interesse in andere cultures, und last but not least, speed, agility und speed.
Hallo und willkommen zu heute, Lightwolf Leadership Podcast.
Es ist mein Herz, dass ein sehr spezieller Gast wieder willkommen zu einem sehr speziellen Episode zu willkommen.
Welcome back to the Lightwolf Podcast.
Thank you, Stefan.
Happy to be here.
Christian, one of the many things that impress me about you is your positive mindset and your strong belief that great leadership starts and finishes with people.
You bring around 30 years of international leadership experience.
You lived and worked in Europe, in the United States.
in China, in Malaysia.
And you've held full profit and loss responsibility in major and growing organizations for more than 15 years.
Most recently as the Managing Director ASEAN at SC Johnson, overseeing 11 Asian countries.
You first joined me here in the Lightwolf podcast back three years ago.
in an outstandingly successful episode.
We had 13,000 people on the call at the time.
Today we want to take our conversation into another direction and a step further and we'll shed more light on your experience, particularly in leading in Asia.
We'll talk about areas like what makes leadership in Asia special, what makes it different, what did you change about your own approach to leadership, Based on your experience over there and what can everyone on the call, self-included, learn from you regarding the topic.
And furthermore, on a very personal note, I'm honored and very excited to have you join our business team here as of 2027.
And I really look forward to you bringing in your vast experience and your wonderful personality into the work that we do for our clients.
So also welcome here in our team, Christian.
Thank you, Stefan.
Can't wait.
Let's start with the person behind the leader and let's go a few decades back, Christian.
If we go like 40 years back, what were you like as a teenager?
Well, what I remember very well, I was crazy about fencing, so the fencing sport.
I practiced, I think, four or five times a week and everything else, including school, was a second priority.
Und, you know, I liked it because it was a strong performance focus.
You needed to qualify to travel internationally to the World Cup competitions, to Venice, to Paris, which was obviously a great reward.
And what I also liked about fencing is that it was finding the right balance between attacking and defending.
Both was important.
And also anticipating what your opponent will do next.
You would use sometimes strategy and finesse instead of power and also being able to drive fast decisions under power.
And while I was not talented enough to really break through, I benefited a lot for life.
And my today's circle of friends, as an example, consists still of fencers from those times.
Und wenn ich mich noch mal sagen, Stefan, ich habe auch mein Wolle mit der Fencing Hallen, und das ist wo wir in love sind.
Wow!
Dann ist es an der Fall der Wert, der du reibst und wahrscheinlich die größte Wert, die du reibst, ist, dass du mit dem richtigen Partner, dein Leben mitzunehmen.
So, congratulations zu both Katrin und euch, dass es in Fencing happened.
Do you still remember, wenn und wo es happened?
Oh, yes, it was many, many years ago.
I don't remember the year, but it was in a fencing tournament where we both participated.
She and the female tournament, I'm in the male tournament.
That's where we met the first time and we saw each other and wanted to see each other again.
Great, great.
That's really a lovely experience that you even met Katrin, met your wife during fencing.
You also pointed at a particular element, and I've never done fencing, but it resonates with me, which is taking decisions under pressure.
Is there anything you've learned?
And I believe that performance sports and performance in the corporate world, there is a lot of learnings that can travel both ways.
Have you learned anything about this?
Deciding under pressure from fencing that made you a better leader in the business world?
Good question.
I think it's deciding under pressure also means that you don't have a lot of time to make a decision.
And sometimes you have to take a risk no matter if you decide to attack or if you decide to not attack.
And taking this risk, controlled risk, this is for sure something I took away with me over the course of my career.
Now, if you look back at your career so far, has there been a decision or experience that shaped you as a person?
Yes, certainly what formed me as a person was my desire to work and live internationally.
And it started with a selection of my first employer, which was an American company, P&G, as you know.
Und weil ich wollte, ich wollte in der Headquarter arbeiten, zumindest einmal.
Und es hat sich, wenn ich mit PNG mit 7 bis 8 Jahren war.
Es hat mir eine Zeit, aber es hat sich gemacht.
Und später, ich würde sagen, dass es ein mehr consciouses Geist und ein Wetter zu arbeiten in cultures und countries, wo fast growth war, und also wo mein Support war.
Was needed in order to build teams and to build structure.
And that was also what brought me to Asia.
First time to China in 2012 to 2015, where I worked as a head of retail sales for the entire country.
Great experience.
And later again, much later again, brought me back to Malaysia as a general manager for the ASEAN region.
Und das hat auch, ich glaube, hat meine Attitüte für leadership.
Und ich bin überzeugt, dass man nur als internationaler Leder kann, wenn man die richtige Balance finden, auf der einen Seite, die eine globalen Strategie in eine consistent und stringenten Weise, und auf der anderen Seite, die desire und die Empathy zu lernen und zu identifizieren, die localen Kultur und die Kraft in localen Menschen.
Das ist, was ich gelernt habe und was hat auch mein Leben gemacht.
Talking about leadership, Christian, du hast so viel Erfahrung, du hast wahrscheinlich auch schon erlebt, für beide.
Could du share eine bestimmte Situation, wo du fühlst, dass du sehr led bist?
Ja, natürlich.
Ich erinnere mich sehr gut.
Und es hat mit dem, um und zu bekommen, um Feedback zu bekommen, in der regularer Weise und auch in einem Impactful-Wall.
Und ich hatte die Glück in meinem Kjärn zu erleben, das oft zu erleben.
Und es hat auch eine wichtige Rolle für mich als leader.
So, wenn ich als CEO von SC Johnson als der Head von Central Europe, ein paar Jahre später, mein Chef als Präsident der Europäische Union gave mir viel Freiheit.
but also the clear expectation that I must turn around organization, more engagement, and also the business.
Years later, when I achieved this, he invited for a town hall and he gave me a nice recognition.
And more importantly, he gave me a small handwritten card with only one sentence on it.
And the sentence was, Dear Christian, thank you for being a game changer.
This card is still on my desk today in a small frame and it takes energy or I take energy from looking at it from time to time.
What a wonderful example.
I can well feel how proud you must have felt after receiving this because this is not only well timed, it's very personal, it's very meaningful.
So that's a great example.
Thank you for sharing this.
Feedback is key.
I think feedback is not only one of the four elements where you feel culture.
You feel culture based on the people you hire, based on the people you promote and why.
I think you feel culture when and how you're separate from people.
And you feel culture in giving and receiving feedback.
And that is a very powerful example of receiving a wonderful feedback.
On the other hand, nobody's perfect.
Vielen Dank.
Ich wollte nicht mehr, wie ich konnte, wie ich meine erste erste Schritt machen konnte, und meine eigene Erfahrung.
Aber sie wollten alles unter Kontrolle, all die Zeit.
Und es war nicht viel lernen.
Und das ist etwas, was ich mir nicht so gemacht habe, dass ich nicht dieses Kind of leader werde.
Ja, danke für die Share.
Let's zoom more into Asia.
Leadership in Asia.
You've lived in China, you've lived in Malaysia, being responsible for 11 Asian countries.
Which of your European leadership beliefs did you have to question most working in Asia?
What I got wrong at the beginning, that was the impactful communication and implementation of global standards, I would say, and strategies.
Das ist, of course, important, weil das ist wie wir gewinnen und wie wir arbeiten, wie wir gewinnen.
Ich nehme die Joint Business Planning Implementation als Beispiel.
Ich hatte eine Session mit dem Malaysian Team zu präten, wie wir ein Joint Business Plan haben, nachdem wir das hier haben, das ist ein Miss in den letzten Jahren.
Und nach dem, ich habe sie gefragt, um ein Joint Business Plan zu prepare, um ein neues Projekt mit den Kunden zu treffen.
der ich wollte, als auch.
Und dann, wenn ich in zwei Wochen vorher hatte, auf die Präparation und gefragt habe, wie ich konnte, ich, zu meinem Überblick, hatte nichts getan.
Und es war wirklich nicht, dass es ein Lackenwilligungszahlen war, aber es wurde klar, dass sie nicht wussten, und ich war nicht klar genug, auf meine Seite.
How to delegate this task and how to also explain how and not only the what.
So what was missing for them is how to do it.
The expectation was for me to give a clear guidance step by step, provide templates, you know, be a role model and show the way and give direction along the way.
So, that was the clear expectation.
And since I haven't done that, since I was delegating more in the European way, assuming that the people want to have their freedom how to get to the result, I was not successful and nothing happened.
It was rather perceived, you know, not as positive, but as a threat to people to just give them, you know, the vision where you want to go and leave them alone.
So, that was a big learning.
And I did it in a different way the next time.
Yeah.
Thank you for sharing this.
Joint business planning in Malaysia.
Got it.
Another one regarding these cultural differences is about hierarchy and directness.
We often hear that Asian leadership cultures are more hierarchical.
und weniger direkt als Europäische oder vielleicht auch American-Leaderschafts-Cultures sind.
Wie viel truth ist in das?
Und wie viel diese Generalisationen mislead uns?
In general, was ich experienced ist, dass die Hierarchie ist, dass es eine positive-Positive gibt, die Sicherheit, Stabilität und Struktur ist.
Also, respect and politeness are very important behaviors in the business world.
Sometimes a direct approach like we would have a direct informal approach, sometimes even across hierarchy levels, can be rather perceived as a threat and as an offense and does not, let's say, open a discussion.
So that's for sure.
Das ist für sicher ein Verhältnis ich habe, und ich habe auch schon gelernt von diesem.
Ja, und wie über die Trust?
Ich denke, Trust in Teams, Trust in Leadership ist vielleicht die wichtigste und wichtigste currency, die du als Leader hast, die andere haben in dir.
Und ich denke, wir können nicht zufrieden, dass wir nicht einfach erwarten.
Wir sollten nicht einfach erwarten.
I think the only way we can receive it is by earning trust.
Have you learned differences in the way how you earn trust in Asia versus other continents?
I mean, to achieve really an open discussion and own ideas to be presented specifically in Asia, I wouldn't say it's not the case here.
There was a need to create an atmosphere of trust and safety for people.
Other than, you know, an offsite meeting with having fun together, I also try to create this atmosphere by preparing important business meetings in a different way.
For example, by approaching individuals up front and really...
Sharing with them what is my expectation, what is my questions to make it easier for them to speak up in the meeting.
I would not have done that here in Europe, but in Asia I thought it was appropriate.
And if I can give an example, we had an important monthly market share meeting.
And in this meeting, it was especially particularly important for the brand managers to speak up and share analysis of the market and competitive data and also present a plan.
wie wir können zurückkommen zu share growth.
Ich sage Ihnen, diese kinder Meetings waren sehr silent in der Beginn, und es gab einen eher tense Atmosphäre.
Niemand wollte zu sprechen, besonders wenn shares waren bad, und niemand wollte zu getrennt.
Es war eher expected, dass ich einen konkursen und einen konkursen und so weiterentwickeln wollte.
Ich hatte die Dinge zu ändern, um die Menschen zu machen.
Trusting that they can speak up.
So again, I approached the individuals before the meeting and shared expectations, my questions and made it easier for them to prepare and come back with an answer.
And in the meeting, I really stood away from driving conclusions and being very prominent in proposing action plans.
I rather...
Asked questions and let the people, you know, come forward and answer the question.
And that created more an atmosphere of trust, created more psychological safety for people.
And the meetings became more lively and more productive.
Yeah, yeah, I can well see that.
Very interesting learning and probably more pronounced in Asia than the same situation would have been in other continents.
I get it.
Striking another balance.
Anyone who has worked in international organizations, either having been part of a country organization or of a central headquarter organization, we all know that's another dilemma and sometimes a struggle, at least a balance to strike.
When you reflect your time in Asia now, Christian, how did you try to strike that right balance between something that is central, und über 11 Länder zwischen den anderen Ländern?
Das ist eine gute Frage.
Und ich sage, die ASEAN-Cluster mit 11 Ländern war wahrscheinlich die größte in der SC Johnson-World, wenn ich übergebracht habe.
Und ich denke, es ist wichtig, dass die Markets, die Länder, die sich auf und machen, was richtig ausgesprochen hat.
Aber auf der anderen Seite, Ich glaube, wir haben auch einen gemeinsamen Wissen, die wir uns betrachten.
Was ist unser Objektiv und wie wir wollen uns beobachten, die Menschen, die Menschen, die Organisationen sind?
Was sind unsere Grunde, die Marketshare-Geleeleele, etc.?
Und auch als ASEAN Region, wir haben uns auf die Strategie geplant, wie wir es, Build to Win, wo die Foundation ist, wie wir es in jedem Store zu schaffen.
All das, was wir als Region gesagt haben, wir wollen wir haben, wir wollen wir haben, wir wollen wir haben, wir wollen wir haben, wir wollen wir haben und wir haben das zusammengebracht.
Und wir haben das mit den Regionalen und die Country Managers, die wir als Teil des Leadership Team waren.
They will be responsible for executing it.
Of course, the interests between countries differ a lot.
Based on local competition, market environment, on their state of personal development, one country was asking for more innovation from the headquarter.
The other was asking for more marketing support like social media clips.
And others were asking for more people, physical people, to support them to build distribution.
I appreciate this because they know best how to win with the local shoppers and retailers and not the headquarter.
But at the same time, the balance, striking the balance, my job was to set the priorities right and with limited resources.
And so we aligned on some criteria.
One of the criteria was really size of the price.
Whatever your proposal is, it has to be a significant size of price.
It's important for us as a cluster.
And therefore, sometimes we had to reject small proposals, small ideas for innovation if the size of price was not big enough.
And it was important for me that everybody was sharing and everybody understanding those criteria, those selection criteria.
Another was, if you wanted to defend a local competitor.
And then maybe a disproportionate focus and amount went into one specific country to fight this competitor.
But most importantly, everybody had to understand those criteria and we were totally transparent about it.
Let's talk about decisions and particularly challenging leadership situations.
Situations that are difficult.
It's easy to lead well when the sun is shining and markets are growing and we grow with the markets.
It's easy leading.
But it's much more shaping, insightful when the going gets tough.
Have you had a particular leadership situations in your time in Asia that you found particularly difficult?
Yes, and it made me wake up in the middle of the night for a couple of weeks.
It was about Indonesia.
And in Indonesia, we had a fantastic business growth in the first year when I was there and quickly what was called out as a global success model.
The year later, we faced a massive business breakdown, both internally, but also externally driven.
Despite it was foreseeable that it would last a little bit longer, I pushed the local team to stick to their targets to deliver the growth which they had been committed to at the beginning of the year.
I have to admit that was also, this led to bad business practices and some wrongdoing of individuals.
And this cannot be excused, but...
Es ist passiert.
Exzessive inventory war gebildet bei unseren distributorsen ohne eine Sell-Out plan.
Budgets waren überspend und sogar intentionally wrong invoicing und payments happened.
So, of course, ich musste intervenen und sogar, you know, let some people go und spenden viel Zeit auf educatieren, was right und was wrong.
Und natürlich haben wir nicht erreicht, unsere Targets für dieses Jahr.
Für mich, Personal Learning, es kam aus, dass dieses Pressure, die Leute auf die Leute hat in part triggered, das Behaviour und die Leute, und ich würde sagen, besonders in dieser Region des Welt, wollen die Plan immer zu deliverieren.
Sie wollen, sie wollen, sie wollen, sie wollen, sie wollen, sie wollen, sie wollen, sie wollen, sie wollen, sie wollen, sie wollen, sie wollen, sie wollen, sie wollen.
Und sie haben alles, sie wollen, sie wollen, sie wollen, sie wollen.
Und ich habe viel gelernt von diesem.
Und erst einmal, wir haben viel Informationen und haben viel education, kam zusammen als Team und waren transparente über was passiert.
Und wir haben auch gesagt, dass es zero toleranziert, wenn es zu businessen, und es kann niemals beurteilen.
Und wir müssen immer die hardere, die nicht mehr, die nicht mehr, die nicht mehr, die nicht mehr, die nicht mehr.
But I also trained the team that we need to learn to call out business crisis like this one earlier, which gives us, allows us time to build alternative plans rather than hanging in and just trying to reach the original target no matter what.
A very valuable lesson that you're sharing here, also linked to the next question, which is about another balance.
which is the balance between developing people and delivering committed results.
Again, it's easy when both things work hand in hand.
It gets demanding when they don't.
So what is your learning so far, Christian, about the right balance between growing people and delivering results?
I think that it for sure goes together.
Growing people and delivering results is both important, but we cannot trade the one for the other.
And for me, this is always also back to a leadership principle I work with, which is I want to, I can, and I will do it.
And for some of you listening to my last podcast, this might sound familiar.
So for me...
At the beginning, there needs to be a vision.
Everybody can agree to something to believe and what motivates.
And this is the I want to.
And then I need to develop my skills.
And I means everybody on the team to be able to execute.
This is the I can.
And last but not least, it's about doing it.
It's about executing well, which is the I will do it.
And this is how.
I develop people and how I deliver the business and what I expect from teams I work with.
Yeah, yeah, very.
I love that philosophy.
It's on point, very clear, very memorable.
I really enjoy it a lot.
One of the other areas that definitely people on the call will be interested in learning from you about is focus.
Like everybody, your day also only has 24 hours.
And one of the more difficult things is to decide what deserves time and what does not.
And that also is a theme that I would say in the last few years has become more and more important for our clients.
The impression is there was a need to deliver ever more in the same amount of time.
So how do you make that decision, Christian?
What you invest your time into?
Und was nicht?
Ich denke, ich könnte sicherlich delegieren mehr, aber es ist über den Impactful Delegation.
Und das ist was ich in Asia hatte.
Und ich habe den Beispiel, wo role model behavior war desired und expected.
Und also nicht nur über die what, aber über die how.
Und das hat mich zu beherumachen, dass die Leute vielfältig und finden die Reise in der Arbeit, die ich es tun habe.
Und das natürlich gibt es mir Zeit und ermöglicht mich mehr auf was ist wichtig.
Ein weiterer ist sagen, nein.
Und das ist über sagen, nein zu sagen, nein zu...
any short-term business strategies which are not sustainable and not in line with the company philosophy and the company principles.
And it's also saying no to, in the case of ASEAN, saying no to small initiatives, even though they could have been super inspiring and also creative, but they were simply too small to have the whole organization working against it.
So saying no.
Delegating in an effective way, I think that's for me something where I try to get more focused and also get more time.
Yeah, great.
One of the things you mentioned early on in this conversation is your energy for working internationally, which is one of the red threads through your life.
Let's imagine for a moment a young woman, a young man, both high leadership potentials, both just ahead of their first international leadership role.
Is there any advice you would give them?
Yeah, first of all, I would say, please do it.
It's super rewarding.
And I'm very happy that my two daughters also went internationally for their studies and experience living and working in different cultures.
I would say first, Really internalize a company strategy and leadership principles before you move, because this is what will be expected from you, that you will be able to talk about that and motivate other people to follow the company strategy.
Second, I think it's important that you want to be a role model, that you learn how to add value in different cultures, which might be a different thing.
And then last but not least, be empathetic to learn.
from others in a local culture, show interest for the people there, and ask a lot of questions.
Yeah, very good.
The topic of questions, again, is a red thread throughout the conversation.
You touched upon it a couple of times.
Now, zooming towards the close of today, there are two more things I'd like to do.
The first one is a section that's called the five quick questions.
Also for quick, short response, Christian.
Number one.
What is the best advice you ever received?
Be human and be authentic, no matter what.
Love it.
Is there one leadership quality you used to underestimate?
Yes.
Also, based on what I've been experiencing in Indonesia, I would say this is about clarity.
Fast and consistent acting.
Don't wait if you spot a crisis or a problem until it gets too late.
Have clarity and be fast and consistent.
What is your most important personal tool under pressure?
First of all, keep calm.
If I have the time, I would like to sleep it over.
And second, act consistently.
Consistent with your leadership principles and your company strategy.
Always.
No matter how high the pressure is.
Is there one particular leadership habit from Asia that you would love to bring to Europe or to the US?
Team spirit and positive thinking, interest in other cultures and last but not least, speed.
Agility and speed.
Und dann, finally, ist da eine Sache, was du anders als ein Leader heute gemacht hast, als 10 Jahre alt?
Wenn ich eine Sache mache, würde ich sagen, ask mehr Fragen.
Ask mehr Fragen.
Ja, sehr gut.
Vielen Dank.
Coming to the finish line for this excellent conversation, Christian, ist da eine Frage, die du mit den Frauen und Männern auf der call möchtest?
Any message or question you would like to share with them?
Yeah, let me ask you, what is your contribution, your leadership principle you follow, your contribution to your people and your business?
How can you improve the people you work with a little bit every day?
Yeah, love it.
Es hat sich gut, Christian.
Ich habe viel gelernt.
Ich bet die listeners hier haben, als auch.
Es hat sich gut zu hören, zu hören, zu fühlen, zu fühlen, zu fühlen, zu fühlen, zu fühlen, zu fühlen, zu fühlen, zu fühlen, zu fühlen, zu fühlen, zu fühlen, und zu immer wieder zurück zu den Fragen, rather als Fragen, zu geben.
Es ist amazing.
I thank you for your time.
I'm delighted that from 2027 onwards, you will be by our side.
You will be a part of our team.
And I can't wait to get going and serve our clients together with you by my side.
So thank you very much, dear Christian Dranning.
Thank you, Stefan.
It was fun.
Thank you.
And you, dear listener, I hope you enjoyed it.
Thanks for turning in and looking forward.
for you to join in again into the Lightwolf Leadership Podcast.
See you soon.